Tallant has been a CNA for about 21 years, and she said the job is mostly routine — except when it isn’t.

“You do the best you can on non-routine days,” Tallant said. “When (a patient) goes bad, (just remember) you’re going to have another one.”

Tallant and other nurses at Plum Creek received a bit more attention than usual because it’s National Nurses Week.

Nursing is a growing field, but all is not rosy.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected a 19 percent growth in employment for registered nurses from 2012 to 2022, compared with an 11 percent average growth rate for all occupations.

But the recent recession made it more difficult for entry-level nurses to find work, as more experienced nurses put off retirement and stayed in the job force. Many of those entry-level nurses changed professions, and there’s a shortage projected.

Between now and 2022, there will be an expected half-million nursing jobs from growing demand and another half-million nurses will retire and need to be replaced, said Peter McMenamin, senior policy fellow and health economist at the American Nurses Association.

Nursing can be a tough profession.

Tallant said it is difficult “when you know that you can’t do anything” for the patients.

“The best way to deal with it is knowing that I did the best I could,” said Candice Smith, chief nursing officer at Plum Creek. “I just had to do a job. It wasn’t my decision.”

Smith has been a registered nurse for 13 years.

“Nursing is viewed as a very honest and compassionate profession,” Smith said. “Nurses strive to uphold those values every day.”

Nurses said keeping up with paperwork and managing time are challenging.

“It takes a lot,” said Chelsea Lee, charge nurse at Plum Creek. “If you are in it for the money, don’t get in it.”

Nurses have to be flexible because one day differs from the other, Tallant said.

Kristi Crump, director of skilled nursing at Plum Creek, said she is required to do a lot of different tasks, from taking care of patients to filling out paperwork.

Crump also has long-term patients who are in extended medical and rehabilitative care due to chronic or acute conditions.

Crump said the patients who she cares for become part of her family and that nurses need to be compassionate.